I’m in Business Insider talking about remote work, the article is paywalled [link].
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Business Insider piece on Remote Work
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Escaping The House Elf Management Trap
I would love to find a new name for this, now that JK Rowling is cancelled, but in the Harry Potter books, house elves are powerful magical beings, who are condemned to (mostly invisible) servitude, largely of people who would uphold harmful power structures (much like JK Rowling herself). The tragedy of the house elf […]
Originally shared internally and lightly edited for external readability. Note that this comes from a context where the self review is not part of the promotion packet so focuses on it as a tool to help the manager put together the review. Goal of a self review: None goals of self review: Your self review […]
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Meta Problems and Where to Find Them
Meta-problem (n): root cause issues of a collection of symptom problems. One of the things I do as an engineering director, is live in the realm of the meta problem. The thing that is behind the problems that people are talking about. For instance, a meta problem of an individualistic mindset on the team might […]
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The Anatomy of a 1:1
Broadly speaking, my overarching agenda for any 1:1 is as follows: It starts with the checkin, “how’s it going?”, an open ended question that some people respond with a status update, and some do not. The important thing is what comes next – finding out how the person feels. Sometimes a status update is useful […]
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The “Not Doing” List
Periodically, I like to step back and think about the things that I’m not doing. I’m not talking about the things that are on my list, but that I haven’t done yet, or the things that I’m actively choosing not to do. I’m talking about the things that I didn’t have time to think about. […]
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Energy Management for Newer Managers
When I coach new managers, or transition ICs into management, one of the key struggles initially (which I also remember myself) is overwhelm. For some, this ends up in exhaustion, and those are the people who often switch back onto the IC path – they find management unsustainable at that time (some return to it […]
I did an interview with Range, talking about how the fully distributed teams I lead at DuckDuckGo work. Read it here
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The Battery
I keep coming back to what it means to recharge. The metaphor that has been working most for me lately is the idea of a battery. In the green, I have plenty of charge. Everything is possible. In the orange is the ideal place for “active rest”. But if that’s not an option, I can […]
When I changed jobs in 2020, I went from a low-process culture to a high-process culture (or: what I perceive as high-process, all things are relative). It was a bit of a culture shock. The process stressed me out. For instance, my previous job did not have performance review. You were supposed to submit feedback […]